Daily Dose of Prehistory: Back From Extinction 80

Quetzalcoatlus northropi, named after the Mesoamerican Feathered Serpent God Quetzalcoatl and the creator of tailless flying wing aircraft John Northrop, is a species of azhdarchid pterosaur that lived in North America during the end of the Cretaceous period, around 68 to 65 million years ago. Quetzalcoatlus is notable for being the largest flying animal ever to live: it would've had a wingspan of up to 40 ft (around the same wingspan as a Cessna 172 light aircraft), a standing height of up to 9.8 feet when on the ground, and a weight of up to 550 pounds. Like its relatives, it was uniquely suited for terrestrial life, only comparable to sea lions in terms of lifestyle. Because of its massive size, it likely flew through a combination of wing flapping and soaring using thermals, though some have argued that it was actually flightless. Its body structure was so successful that DARPA, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, created a UAV based on Quetzalcoatlus.

biiiiig bird

Okay they weren’t this big. They were big don’t get me wrong, but they were about the height of a giraffe.